The looming wave of retirement is set to impose a severe talent shortage on the insurance industry, says Toronto-based insurance industry recruiting company DGA Careers. Unless companies begin ramping up their recruitment and retention strategies now, they’ll be left short-handed.

DGA has been witnessing an increasing demand for skilled workers among life insurance and property and casualty insurance companies for several years now, according to DGA president Gerald Legrove. With the possibility that one-third of the broker and adjustor community could retire in the next 10 years, this demand is set to skyrocket in the years ahead.

The situation is a result of the median age in the industry being roughly 41, which indicates a higher share of the baby-boomer demographic than the rest of the workforce has. “The demographics that are hitting all industries right now are a little more extreme for the property and casualty insurance industry and the life insurance industry,” says Legrove.

In addition, the insurance industry is facing greater challenges in finding candidates with specialized knowledge in such areas as underwriting and claims, says Legrove: “The specific skill sets that [insurers] are looking for are becoming harder and harder to find.”

Heather Matthews, assistant vice president of human resources with Kitchener, Ont.-based Crawford & Co. (Canada) Inc. would agree. “This challenging labour market will make recruitment and retention a defining issue for companies seeking a competitive advantage over the next several years,” she said in a release earlier this year. Crawford & Co. provides claims management and other services to insurers.

In taking a proactive approach to the looming workforce shortage, Legrove advises companies to work at creating a strong human resources “brand” to attract new talent and retain existing workers.

“Companies spend a lot of money and time branding themselves from a marketing point of view to their clientele,” says Legrove. “But it’s important to understand what your brand is in the marketplace for potential workers.”

This means defining the company’s culture and publicly conveying its strengths as an employer.

Establishing such a reputation can significantly set an employer apart, says Legrove. Qualified candidates often have preconceived notions about companies for which they’d like to work, based on their impressions of the way a company treats its employees. Job candidates also consider a company’s growth prospects, how much it innovates and even its environmental efforts.

He warns that developing such a brand is not something a company can achieve overnight: “Creating that brand involves many elements of an organization to achieve that.”

(For more on recruiting talent, see pages B6-B7.)

Companies are increasingly turning to new, technologically advanced methods in marketing their brand in order to reach a range of qualified candidates. Online job fairs, for instance, let employers use multimedia to outline employment opportunities and provide information about the corporate culture in a way that’s faster, cheaper and reaches a larger audience.

“There’s a whole range of new ways that communities form and people communicate,” says Legrove. “Mid-sized and larger companies are taking the initiative and using the best of modern technology to control their own destiny and build the workforce that they need to compete.”

Crawford & Co. has used virtual career fairs as part of the large-scale recruiting and succession plan it kicked off this year. Other companies are utilizing multimedia in other ways. Videos on the Web site for Cambridge, Ont.-based Gore Mutual Insurance Co., for instance, outline the advantages of working for the company, including a message from its vice president and general manager, Terri Johnson, and interviews with current employees.

In keeping track of candidates, there is a growing range of technological tools at employers’ disposal. A variety of software tools known as candidate resource management help employers manage databases of intelligence on potential candidates. This could include a candidate’s current position and career goals — knowledge that could be helpful in attracting such individuals, says Legrove.

The increasingly competitive market for talent also means companies need to look beyond recruiting strategies and develop stronger retention strategies to keep valuable workers on board.

Staying in tune with employee values is a key aspect of this, and employers must recognize that values extend far beyond compensation, says consultant Lorie Guthrie Phair of LePhair Associates Ltd. of Pickering, Ont. At a seminar on recruiting in early October, she said being treated with respect and consideration is ranked equally with compensation for most employees. To keep in touch with such values, Guthrie Phair recommends providing opportunities for feedback from employees — something younger workers often expect.

@page_break@Other ways of insuring against future retention challenges include using succession planning to design career paths for individual employees, and finding creative ways to motivate and acknowledge employee contributions, Guthrie Phair says.

Retention may not prevent older employees from retiring, but companies can still benefit from making the most of their time left in the workforce. This requires flexibility among employers.

“There may be individuals who are later in their careers who have a lot of skill and knowledge that might be available on a contract basis,” says Legrove. “It’s making good use of people in an aging workforce.” IE